2015 Legislature

6:28 pm

Fri March 13, 2015

Next week, the Montana House of Representatives will hear House Bill 2, the state budget bill. It arrives smaller than Gov. Steve Bullock requested, including a proposal to take away his plane, which he says is about party politics.

2015 Legislature

6:19 pm

Fri March 13, 2015

Gun safety advocates have begun a push to defeat several bills that expand gun rights in Montana.

The Montana chapter of “Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense” is taking aim at two bills that would loosen the state’s concealed-carry laws, and another bill that would allow guns on college campuses.

They kicked off their drive with a capitol news conference, where one speaker was retired Lewistown educator John Moffatt, who was shot and nearly killed by a Junior High student in 1986. He doesn’t want guns on campus, and says students don’t them either.

2015 Legislature

5:41 pm

Fri March 13, 2015

Montana legislators are considering giving $1 million to the Montana Department of Justice for a potential lawsuit against states hindering Montana’s coal trains from getting to larger markets. Namely, markets like China.

2015 Legislature

4:45 pm

Fri March 13, 2015

A pair of bills intended to increase privacy in the digital age are making their way through the Montana legislature. They were each heard today in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will vote on them later.

Led by Jeff Smith of the group 350Missoula, they gathered in front of Senator Steve Daines’ office here. There were there to, they said, “protest the senator’s denial of climate change science and his support for fossil fuel projects like coal exports, the Otter Creek Coal Mine, and the Keystone XL pipeline."

Montana Newscasts

11:28 am

Fri March 13, 2015

On this edition of Montana Morning Newscast, Another bill that would make it illegal for doctors to prescribe life-ending medication to terminally ill patients who ask for it has been endorsed by the House.

Lawmakers have narrowly endorsed a bill to add the chickenpox vaccine to those required for public school students.

Members of Montana's congressional delegation are proposing to make permanent a tax break for coal mined from American Indian Reservations.

50th Anniversary Short Fiction Contest

6:21 am

Fri March 13, 2015

For our 50th Anniversary Short Fiction Contest, we asked you to send a 700-word, or less, story in which Montana Public Radio is mentioned in some way. We'll be accepting entries until March 15, 2015. Winners will be announced in April. This story is by Ethan Zimmerman.